politics Archive

On September 8th Congress voted for relief for Americans impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Several callous members voted no, citing their conservative ideology, even though they’ve embraced federal dollars flowing to their districts before. As the Kansas City Star editorial board noted when raining hot fire on their local nays: “And the hypocrisy. Let us...

For a country founded on rebellion, secession movements are an unsurprisingly popular American tradition. From the tongue-in-cheek variety of mock revolt practiced by Key West’s Conch Republic, to the bloody fighting of the Civil War, the urge to flip the bird to the powers that be is as old as these United States. There’s...

Nearly a quarter century later there are still political kernels of wisdom to be harvested from Bill Clinton’s improbable, history-making 1992 presidential campaign – wisdom Americans can consider after emerging from their bunkers to survey the smoking, salted ground on November 9th. A new documentary film, Crashing the Party, etches the biggest lesson of...

If the “good food” movement is going to unite into a formidable political force for change — something like a national Food Party — then it’s going to have to rely in part on existing groups and activists as a foundation. Chef Michel Nischan is a three-time James Beard Foundation award winner, restaurateur, and cookbook...

Because of the outsized role they play in American politics, there will always be debate over the farm lobby’s power. The first in the nation Iowa presidential primary caucus has been a barometer of the corn and ethanol lobbies’ influence in particular due to the state’s huge output of both. This time around Texas...

Marco Rubio’s campaign for the GOP presidential nomination is doing well enough in Iowa that he recently announced an agriculture leadership team to bolster his corn cred. Both Jeb! Bush and the failed Scott Walker campaigns announced ag teams this summer. Rubio’s ream of 24 agriculture leader endorsements comes after Iowa consternation regarding his...

Food and farm reformers have rightly been focusing on the presidential primary season, urging candidates to talk about agriculture and engage in “good food” issues. But there’s another presidential race that will have profound impacts on our future food and farm system. And this contest has been flying under the radar of the good...

Republican Matt Bevin’s recent triumph for the governorship in Kentucky underscores the long downward slide for Democrats in rural America. Due to Tea Party waves and cycles of lackluster outreach efforts the blue squad has seen its numbers dwindle in farm country. What could help farm state D’s wander out of the darkness? According...

Wednesday’s handshake agreement to possibly stave off cuts to subsidies to insurance companies for administering the crop insurance program was a master class in how to defend federal turf. Food movement types would do well to study and start to replicate the conventional agriculture sector’s response. It was a wonder to behold. While it’s...